Chris Thompson (Aldershot, Farnham and District AC) has been forced to withdraw from the Norwich Union Great Britain and Northern Ireland team for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships being staged in Mombasa, Kenya, on Saturday 24 March.

Thompson, GB’s second finisher in the European Championships race that was won by his team mate Mo Farah in December, suffered a leg injury while training in South Africa and is being treated at his home base, the UK Athletics Performance Centre at Loughborough University.

As the selectors opted not to name a reserve, there will now be eight men in the Norwich Union GB team in Mombasa: Alan Buckley (Gateshead Harriers), Mo Farah (Newham and Essex Beagles), Phil Nicholls (Tipton Harriers), Ben Noad (Highgate Harriers), Michael Skinner (Blackheath Harriers Harriers and Bromley AC), Steve Vernon (Stockport Harriers), Jason Ward (Altrincham AC) and Phil Wicks (Belgrave Harriers).

The senior women’s team is: Elle Baker (South London Harriers), Hatti Dean (Hallamshire Harriers Sheffield), Felicity Milton (Durham University), Jo Pavey (Exeter Harriers), Kate Reed (Bristol and West AC) and Hayley Yelling (Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow AC).

The junior team will be finalised after the Under 20 Trials at the UK Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships in Nottingham’s Wollaton Park on Saturday 24 February. Pre-selections are Sian Edwards (Kettering Town Harriers), who was 10^th in the Junior Women’s at last year’s World Cross Country Championships; Emily Pidgeon (Gloucester AC), the European Junior 5000m Champion; and Stephanie Twell (Aldershot, Farnham and District AC), the European Junior Cross Country Champion.